


Dressed For the Show (But Going Nowhere)

by WitchofEndor



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-04-18 11:09:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14211864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WitchofEndor/pseuds/WitchofEndor
Summary: Every Monday evening, Tony Stark dies. And then every Monday morning, Tony Stark wakes up again.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is very loosely based on the premise of 'Happy Death Day' (which is itself basically Groundhog Day + murder). I chose not to warn for 'major character death' because Tony keeps coming back, but keep in mind that he also keeps dying! 
> 
> Title is from 'Little Black Dress' by Sara Bareilles.
> 
> This fic is set in a very hopeful post-Infinity War future.

 

 

_Monday – Day One_

Tony wakes up with a jolt and a splitting headache. He turns his head into his pillow, realises that the jolt is because his cell phone is playing the Jaws theme tune, and does some quick inner-calculations about how mad Pepper will be if he ignores her call.

Finally, Tony turns his head and grabs his cell. “Pep,” he says, face still smashed into the pillow. “Whaddup?”

Pepper’s greeting is a sigh. “I’m just reminding you that we have a meeting this morning,” she says, ever-patient, and also ever-exasperated.

“Nnnnno,” Tony replies. “You’re the CEO. You have a meeting. I have a pillow.”

“You promised,” Pepper says, an edge to her voice.

Tony turns onto his back and stares at the ceiling. Since their implosive mid-battle breakup, they’ve been teetering right on the edge of friendship. Tony has only recently realised that he has to give up on any hope of them getting back together to really build a friendship with her again, and hey, if that came a year too late, who’s counting?

“I did,” Tony admits. “I’ll be there. Maybe even on time. Since you flew in all the way from the West Coast for it and all.”

“I’ll see you soon, Tony,” Pepper closes before hanging up the call.

Tony rubs his eyes.

“FRIDAY, what time is it?”

“ _It’s 09.03, Boss,_ ” FRIDAY replies. “ _Your wake-up call is scheduled in fifteen minutes. Would you like to continue to sleep?_ ”

The data is flowing in Tony’s mind already – his fault for kick-starting thought immediately upon waking – so he washes up and makes his way down to the kitchen in the t-shirt and boxers he slept in.

It seems to be a lucky morning, because Steve is cooking eggs when he arrives. Natasha, Luke, and Peter are sitting around the kitchen table, staring at their various devices and ignoring Steve’s actual paper-and-ink newspaper in the middle of the table. Tony sits down after a quick greeting and gratefully takes a cup of black coffee from a smiling Steve. It’s a good morning.

*

After breakfast, Steve sits down in the empty seat next to him, which Luke has since vacated, and says: “I wanted to remind you that Bucky is stopping by later.”

Tony stands to refill his coffee. “I’ll be sure to make myself scarce.”

It’s not that Tony and Bucky don’t get along. Since saving the world together, they’ve managed to put a hell of a lot behind them. But they get along better when they’re not in the same room, and Steve knows that.

“I didn’t mean…” Steve starts, and then breathes a half-sigh. “Anyway, if your schedule is free, you’re due for some sparring later.”

Tony nods and goes to leave the room. “I’ll ask Jess,” he suggests.

*

The meeting is at Stark Tower, and the East Coast Avengers are currently living in Avengers (previously 'Stark') Mansion. Tony loves his tower, but even he has to admit that the mansion is a more team-appropriate base. It’s not quite as good as the compound upstate, which they still use for meetings between the East and West Coast Avengers, but it feels more like home. And god knows that since the mess they made of the team, they need somewhere that feels like home to whip them back into shape.

When Tony’s newest driver/bodyguard is driving him from the mansion to the tower, Tony thinks he sees a caped figure on the sidewalk. By the time he turns in his seat to take a second look, the figure is gone.

*

The meeting is boring, as expected, but it makes Pepper smile that Tony has arrived on time. He designs on his tablet while half-glancing at the slides he’s being shown, participates more than is expected of him, and kisses Pepper on the cheek as he goes to leave.

“How’s Happy?” he asks, because it’s polite to ask after an ex-fiancée’s new boyfriend (at least, he supposes), and because he really does miss Happy. “You and Happy still happy?”

“We’re good,” Pepper replies, her smile only fading a little. “You should come visit us all more often. God knows Rhodey would appreciate it.”

Tony slides his sunglasses into place. “Well, apparently we’re borrowing Barnes for a few days. Maybe we could do an Avenger-swap and I could come evaluate the other team.”

Pepper just smiles, because she knows that it isn’t going to happen, and when they go their separate ways, it doesn’t even hurt anymore. Well, not much.

*

By the time he gets to the gym, Steve is there with Barnes. Steve tries to suggest that he could spar with Tony – something about co-leaders keeping each other in shape – but Jess shows up in time for Tony to beg off based on prior commitment.

When Steve and Barnes leave, Jess steps into the ring and nods back at the door. “Was that about Barnes, or are Mom and Dad fighting again?”

Tony doesn’t wince, but it’s a near thing. Tony and Steve have bickered, but they’ve been really careful not to actually fall out again since the Infinity War. Jess is probably aware of that, but as usual, she’s crass and she doesn’t give a shit about his feelings.

It’s kind of why Tony likes her so much.

After Jess has wiped the floor with him, she picks up a flask and takes a swig. Tony carefully doesn’t give her any kind of expression, which she obviously notices, because she rolls her eyes and says, “Relax. It’s just water.” She then flicks some of it at him in proof.

Ten months ago, Tony went on a bender, and Jess had helpfully joined him. It was almost two weeks of constant drinking and bad ideas, in which he’s pretty sure that he and Jess almost got married in Vegas, which Tony’s glad didn’t happen because he doesn’t want to ever face the wrath of Luke Cage. In the aftermath, they’d made the mutual decision to stop drinking, at least for the time-being. It isn't Tony’s first time trying to give up alcohol, but it is the first time that he knows his drinking will have consequences for someone else, and apparently his subconscious cares more about keeping Jess dry than keeping himself free of alcohol poisoning and terrible decisions.

*

It’s movie night, and it’s Sam’s turn to choose, which means they end up watching a movie with more explosions than plot. Tony loves it.

Barnes stays for the movie, and sits on the opposite side of Steve than the one Tony does. The couch is built for three, but Barnes and Steve are both pretty big; Steve scoots to make room for Tony, but Tony doesn’t feel like squeezing onto the couch with the super-soldiers tonight. Instead, he sits on the floor next to Natasha, and regrets it halfway through the movie because he might be, possibly, growing a little older.

*

After the movie is done, Tony heads to his bedroom to pick up a few things before he goes back into the workshop.

That’s when everything goes wrong.

One moment, Tony is alone in his room looking for his favourite wrench, and then—

“Who the hell are you?” Tony asks, backing up a few paces to put space between him and the hooded stranger. “FRIDAY, alert—”

And then the guy is on him, slamming him backwards with what is definitely super-human strength.

Tony’s head hits the edge of his desk, and he sees stars in his vision, but he throws himself to one side anyway and lets his training take over.

The man pins him to the floor, and Tony activates his watch into a gauntlet in order to throw him off with a repulsor blast.

He’s back in nanoseconds.

His hands are around Tony’s throat.

Tony calls the suit.

Everything starts to go dark.

“Who—?” Tony chokes, a distraction, and then throws his weight upwards and his elbow towards the shadowed face.

They roll on the floor, and the suit is almost here, and the team must know that something is wrong by—

A knife slides between Tony’s ribs.

And again. And again.

Everything fades to darkness.

 

* * *

 

 

_Monday – Day Two_

Tony wakes up with a jolt and a sharp pain in his chest.

He reaches for his ribs, but nothing is wrong. The pain begins to fade, just the remnants of a bad dream. He settles back into the pillow, breath coming fast.

“FRIDAY,” he gasps after a moment. “Time?”

“ _It is 08.57, Boss_ ,” FRIDAY replies. “ _Your wake-up call isn’t due until 09.15. Would you like to continue to sleep?_ ”

Tony runs a hand over his face. “No, I’m—”

His cell starts to ring; it’s Pepper’s ring tone, which is the Jaws theme tune, because Tony is hilarious.

“Hey, Pep,” Tony answers.

“Good morning,” Pepper answers. “I’m just reminding you that we have a meeting this morning.”

Tony frowns. “Do we?”

“You promised,” Pepper says, an edge to her voice.

“I thought you went back to the West Coast yesterday?” Tony asks.

Pepper hesitates. “No, I came _from_ the West Coast yesterday,” she replies. “Tony, are you okay?”

Dream, Tony realises. He just _dreamt_ that they’d already had the meeting.

“Sorry, I had a— Whatever, it doesn’t matter. I’ll be there. On time, even.”

Pepper sounds untrusting as she says, “See that you are,” and hangs up the call.

Tony rubs his chest for a moment, feeling wrong-footed, and then gets up to wash his face and brush his teeth before heading down to the kitchen, still wearing the t-shirt and boxers he slept in.

It seems to be a lucky morning, because Steve is cooking eggs when he arrives, and he almost immediately presents Tony with a mug of black coffee and a smile. Natasha, Luke, and Peter are sitting around the kitchen table, staring at their various devices. There’s an honest-to-god newspaper in the middle of the table, which must belong to Steve. It’s a good morning.

“All right, I’d better go wake the demon,” Luke says when he’s done with his eggs. “She’s somehow mad whether I wake her early or let her sleep in,” he explains to Peter, whose reaction to Jessica Jones has always been one of complete terror.

When Luke is gone, Steve sits down in his vacated seat, and turns to Tony. Peter is too busy playing a game on his phone to notice anything is off, and Natasha is either pretending not to pay attention or honestly doesn’t care, but Tony knows what’s coming.

“So Barnes is arriving today, huh?” he says before Steve can get a word in.

Steve looks sheepish. “Yeah, in an hour or so. I just wanted to make sure everything’s okay with that.”

Tony stands to refill his coffee. “I’ll be sure to make myself scarce.”

And then he’s hit with a serious sense of déjà vu.

“I didn’t mean…” Steve starts, and then breathes a half-sigh.

“Wait,” Tony says, and then spends a good ten seconds staring at Steve’s annoyingly beautiful face in the morning light of the kitchen, ignoring Peter and Natasha, neither of whom have deigned to pay attention. “Didn’t we already have this conversation?”

Steve blinks. “Uh, no?” he says. “That’s why I wanted to bring it up this morning. Unless you mean that we talked about Bucky visiting in the last team meeting?”

“I meant…” Tony starts, and then shakes himself, trying to dislodge the strange sense that this has happened before. “Sorry. I’m having a weird day.”

“That’s okay,” Steve replies, with a compassionate smile. “Anyway, if your schedule is free later, you’re due for some sparring.”

Tony goes to leave the room. “I’ll ask Jess,” he suggests, and then frowns.

*

The meeting is at the tower. Tony glares at nothing the whole way there, trying to shake himself back into feeling normal.

There is a sense of dread in his stomach, heavy and gnawing, and Tony has no idea what he is dreading.

*

The meeting is fine, except Tony keeps trailing off in the middle of his sentences, somehow sure that he has said them before.

*

He spars with Jess, after brushing off Steve’s attempts to suggest that the two of them have some quality co-leader time.

She wipes the floor with him, of course. Now that Bruce has officially resigned, Tony is considering renaming her the Strongest Avenger, but he’ll have to pit her against the super-soldiers and Cage just to be sure. Either way, Tony never stands a chance against Jess, but she’s such a delight to be around that Tony doesn’t really care.

Afterwards, Jess takes a swig from a flask. Tony frowns, trying to remember when she showed that to him.

“Relax,” she says, rolling her eyes. “It’s just—”

“Water, I know,” Tony replies, which makes Jess hesitate before she smiles at him.

*

Tony skips movie night, because he’s been in a weird mood all day, and he doesn’t want to sit in close quarters with Barnes while he tries to shake it.

Steve shows up to try to coax him down, but Tony is busy looking for his favourite wrench.

“I promise I’ll be there next week,” he says when he finds it. He has a sudden impulse to ask Steve to stay with him, but he shakes it off. The dread won’t seem to leave his stomach. “I just need a night to myself.”

Steve is frowning, which Tony wishes he wouldn’t do, because his face is too lovely for a frown. “Of course,” he says eventually, and then fidgets with his clothing before saying, “I just wanted to check that this isn’t because I invited Bucky.”

Tony sighs and taps his wrench against his desk. “Look, I know Barnes and I aren’t the best of friends, but we have a reason to be the way we are,” he explains. Tony hates this, hates explaining himself, but he knows that his leadership with Steve depends on them being at least relatively honest with one another. “We’re not at each other’s throats, and I’m okay with having him in my home for as long as he wants to be here. Hell, I’d be okay with him joining us on the East Coast team if he wants to.”

Steve crosses his arms. “But it is because he’s here that you won’t come to movie night.”

“I’ve had a weird day, and I don’t have the energy for it,” Tony says. “Now, ugh, are we done talking about my feelings? Because unless you’re going to braid my hair, I’ve got better things to be doing.”

Steve claps him on the shoulder before leaving.

Tony heads down to his workshop.

*

Three hours later, Tony isn’t alone in his workshop.

There’s a hooded figure, not there one moment and then suddenly _there_ , and he throws Tony against the wall hard enough to make Tony’s head crack against it, hard, which hello, _ow_!

Tony kicks out as he goes to stand, but the figure hardly seems to notice. He throws himself into Tony and grabs at Tony’s throat, but Tony lands a solid enough punch to earn him a couple of seconds to get himself free.

He calls the suit.

The man grabs him by the hair and flings him again. Tony lands with a roll, protecting his head, and by the time he stands, the suit is closing around him.

A repulsor blast knocks the stranger back slightly, but not enough. They’re tumbling together before long, and then there are hands on his faceplate, tearing it off.

“What the _fuck_?!” Tony asks, and the Avengers must be almost here – FRIDAY must have warned them—

There’s a blade at his throat, sudden, and then there’s a blade _in_ his throat.

Everything fades.

 

* * *

 

_Monday – Day Three_

Tony wakes gasping, clawing at his throat. He can just about taste blood, but it’s gone within a few seconds, and Tony collapses back down to his pillow. It was just a dream.

When he’s calmed down enough to speak, he says: “FRIDAY, what ti—”

The Jaws theme tune calls out from his cell phone. Tony frowns at it for a few moments before answering.

“Pepper?”

“Good morning,” Pepper greets. “I’m just reminding you that we have a meeting this morning.”

“The meeting,” Tony repeats, swallowing around bile in his throat.

“You promised,” Pepper says, an edge to her voice.

Tony turns onto his back and stares at the ceiling. It was just a dream. He dreamt the meeting, and sparring with Jess, and being murdered. Twice.

“Right, of course,” Tony says. “I’ll just go get ready so that I’m definitely on time. Bye, Pep.”

He hangs up, and argues with himself internally about the sense of déjà vu he’s feeling now, which he also felt in the dream. It was just a weird dream, he decides, and then washes up before heading down to the kitchen.

Just down the hall, he says to himself, “Steve cooking eggs. Natasha, Peter, and Luke at the table. Newspaper in the middle. Peter playing a game on his phone, Natasha and Luke checking the news on their tablets. Steve hands me coffee.”

When he walks into the room and everything is as he described, Tony tells himself that the data is inconclusive. After all, this isn’t too unusual a morning.

A few minutes later, Tony glances at Luke, and says to himself: _All right, I’d better go wake the demon_.

“All right,” Luke says when he’s done with his eggs. “I’d better go wake the demon. She’s somehow mad whether I wake her early or let her sleep in,” he explains to Peter, who looks suitably horrified.

Tony bites down on the inside of his cheek. He looks at Steve, who is moving to take over Luke’s seat.

_He’s going to remind me that Bucky is stopping by later_.

“I wanted to remind you that Bucky is stopping by later.”

Tony tries to recreate his original reaction. He stands to refill his coffee, and says, “I’ll be sure to make myself scarce.”

_He starts objecting, and then tells me to spar later_ , Tony tells himself.

“I didn’t mean…” Steve starts, and then breathes a half-sigh. “Anyway, if your schedule is free, you’re due for some sparring later.”

Tony stares at him. Steve stares back, and then tilts his head in a questioning gesture, like a goddamn golden retriever.

“I’m busy,” Tony replies, and then leaves the room.

*

He goes to the meeting, but only because he promised Pepper. While he’s there, he remembers almost every slide, almost every conversation. His hands are shaking, so he keeps them under the desk.

After the meeting, he takes Pepper aside and says, “Something is wrong.”

“What do you mean?” Pepper asks. “I thought everything went well.”

“Everything went fine, it’s just—” Tony looks at her for a moment – Pepper Potts, who he once thought was the love of his life, and who is no longer the person he can lean on. “Uh, never mind,” he says, and then offers her what must be an unconvincing smile.

So he’s had some kind of premonition of today, and of the fact that someone is going to try to kill him. He’ll use that information to press his advantage, survive, and this will all be over.

*

Sam chooses a movie with more explosions than plot. Tony knows exactly how it goes, even though he’s never seen this particular movie before. He leaves before the end.

*

Tony stocks up on weapons and waits for the stranger.

He ends up being choked to death before the Avengers arrive.

 

* * *

 

_Monday – Day Four_

Tony wakes up gasping for breath, and pissed off.

Whoever this stranger is, he’s too goddamn strong for Tony to fight, even in the suit. He throws Tony around like a ragdoll, and tears the suit from him like it’s made of paper.

Tony makes a list. He includes every villain he’s fought or been involved with, and then for good measure, he includes every superhero, too. He strikes off those who don’t have super-strength or some obvious way to attain it, and still ends up with over thirty people on his list.

“FRIDAY,” Tony says, glancing at his cell when it plays Pepper’s ring tone for the third time. “Please tell Pepper that I’m not able to come to the meeting. Tell her I’ll explain everything tomorrow, provided there is a tomorrow.”

“ _On it, Boss_ ,” FRIDAY replies.

Here’s the thing: FRIDAY doesn’t freak out when the hooded stranger ends up in the mansion. She doesn’t warn Tony, and based on the timings, she doesn’t call the Avengers until it’s too late. Which means that either a) FRIDAY thinks the person has permission to be here, or b) FRIDAY can’t detect them.

If the answer is behind Door A, it means that it might be someone from his team.

Tony needs to get the goddamn hood off his murderer.

*

Tony does not manage to get the hood off his murderer before he is stabbed repeatedly in the abdomen.

 

* * *

 

_Monday – Day Five_

Tony calls Reed Richards. They spend the day together, but neither are able to prove that anything is wrong with time.

*

Tony’s head is smashed into the glass coffee table in the lounge hard enough to kill him in one motion.

 

* * *

 

_Monday – Day Six_

Tony calls Shuri and gets flown to Wakanda. He takes Richards, Bruce, and Peter along with him.

They’re still unable to prove that anything is wrong with time. Tony figures that being so far away from Stark Mansion might give him extra time.

*

Tony is drowned in a pool in Wakanda. It is hugely unpleasant, and being in Africa doesn’t even save him any time.

 

* * *

 

_Monday – Day Seven_

When it has officially been a week of the same Monday, Tony gives up on trying to reveal his murderer’s identity by his own hand, and he gives up on calling his science pals. Nothing seems to be wrong with time from their perspective.

Tony wakes up on the seventh day throwing up Wakandan pool water and coughing. Drowning is probably his least favourite death, even worse than having a knife stabbed into his throat. He spends several minutes starving off a panic attack.

When he is ready to face the day, Tony heads down to the kitchen as usual, though this time he waits until after the eggs are served because he is sick of eating the same goddamn eggs.

“What time is Barnes arriving?” Tony asks Steve, who is handing him a mug of black coffee with a smile.

The smile freezes on Steve’s face for a brief moment, before fading at the edges. “Uh, he should be here around eleven,” Steve replies, and Tony takes his coffee and leaves without bothering with any pleasantries. Steve won’t remember them, after all.

Since Tony has failed four times in a row in revealing his murderer during the act, and science is somehow failing him, he figures that his next best bet is striking people off the list. And as much as Tony doesn’t want to admit it, Barnes is top of the list. He has super-strength, is already in the mansion and therefore won’t cause FRIDAY to notice anything’s wrong, and has the options of a) a motive (probably Tony trying to kill him a few years back), or b) being brainwashed again.

Tony’s best hope is that the time-loop is based around his death, and that if he can manage to survive until Tuesday, the loop will be over. If that doesn’t work out, he’s going to have to try something else.

Since Tony isn’t planning to follow his schedule or invent anything, he decides to use the pre-murder time to call someone who might have answers: Thor. Well, Loki, but Tony’s only method of contacting Loki is through Thor.

“I’m afraid that my brother is running an errand,” Thor declares through Tony’s phone. “But fear not, he will be back in a number of days. Possibly weeks, if all does not go well.”

“Can you get him a message from me?” Tony asks, already losing hope. “It’s important.”

“I can send a message,” Thor replies, “though I cannot guarantee the time-span between my sending and his receiving. But if we are fortunate, he will receive the message within the week.”

Tony sighs. If he can’t contact Loki today, it’s really no help.

“Just tell him I’m looking for him,” Tony suggests. Perhaps he’ll be really, stupidly lucky, and Loki will get the message after all.

*

Later, Tony goes to the main sitting room for movie night. They watch the same stupid movie, and this time Tony squishes himself next to Steve on the couch, because nobody will remember anyway and he wants to be comfortable.

He ends up napping with his head on Steve’s shoulder. The others try to tease them about this once the movie is over, and Steve blushes and rubs the back of his neck in his adorable ‘aw, shucks’ Brooklyn-kid way, but Tony just shrugs.

“Barnes, can I talk with you?” Tony suggests.

Barnes looks surprised, and shares a glance with Steve, but then he says: “Uh, yeah, sure.” He follows Tony all the way to Tony’s bedroom, and Tony locates his favourite wrench to use as a weapon. “What’s up, Stark?”

“Hm?” Tony says, and then remembers that this is probably confusing for Barnes. “Oh, right. Well, someone’s about to kill me, and I thought the best way to check whether or not it’s you is by having you present.”

Barnes stares.

“Because you’ll just attack me now if it’s you,” Tony goes on, trying to make his explanation clear. “And then I’ll know.”

Barnes frown deepens. “Uh, Stark, you know you just said someone’s going to kill you, not that someone’s going to _try_ to kill you?”

Tony has something of an epiphany, and feels like a complete idiot. “Right! Maybe you can help me fight him off,” he says. “Wow, I definitely have issues if it took me a week before ‘teamwork’ occurred to me. Wow. If you remember this, kindly forget that—Look out!”

Once again, the hooded figure just appears out of thin air.

“Shit!” Barnes shouts, and then punches the figure with his mechanical arm.

As per usual, the murderer barely moves.

He seems utterly uninterested in Barnes, and only pays him enough attention to throw him off to one side when he tries to stand in front of Tony.

“Well, you’re not Barnes,” Tony says, not fighting back, and he has Barnes’s warning screams in his ears as his throat is cut.

 

* * *

 

 

_Monday – Day Eight_

Tony wakes up coughing, and then says, “Right, teamwork.”

He’s kind of glad that Barnes won’t remember that Tony tried to fight his murderer off for a whole week before realising that he could pull his team in on this.

*

That night, Tony insists that the team all come up to his bedroom after the movie. Jess makes some inappropriate comments about orgies. Peter looks genuinely nervous.

Half the team dies before the hooded figure gets to Tony.

At least Tony knows that it isn’t anybody on the East Coast Avengers. That’s a load off, he thinks, as the figure takes hold of his head and twists.

 

* * *

 

_Monday – Day Nine_

On the ninth Monday, Tony doesn’t get out of bed.

Everything is useless. Loki will never get his message in time. Even the best scientists in the world can’t detect anything wrong. Nobody can protect him. He is going to die at the end of the day, and he has no way to reveal his murderer’s identity. He doesn’t even know for sure if stopping his own murder will get him out of the time-loop.

Tony has FRIDAY cancel on Pepper, and then he stays in bed, staring at the wall.

*

A few hours later, someone raps on Tony’s door.

“Who’sit?” Tony asks FRIDAY.

“ _It’s Captain Rogers, Boss_ ,” FRIDAY replies. She sounds a little concerned. Tony wonders if she is going to get infected with feelings like JARVIS did. He supposes he’ll never know.

“Okay,” Tony says, exhausted. “Let him in.”

Steve enters the room quietly, and Tony doesn’t take his eyes off the wall.

“Hi,” Steve greets, and Tony tries to lift a hand to wave, only to find that he doesn’t have the energy. “Are you okay?”

“M’fine,” Tony replies. “Just dying. Repeatedly.”

Steve sits on the edge of Tony’s bed. “Do you mind if I stay with you?”

“It won’t make any difference,” Tony says, because even with the whole team there, he still dies. He just takes the others down with him.

Steve shifts back on the bed, until he’s sitting just behind Tony, leaning against the headboard. “Maybe not,” he admits, “but as long as it doesn’t hurt…?”

*

Steve sits there all day, as Tony stares blankly at the wall. Finally, in the early evening, Tony says: “You should go to movie night.”

“I’d rather stay here,” Steve says, and Tony turns over to look at him. He doesn’t even have a book. Apparently, he’s just been sitting there patiently as Tony has some kind of mental breakdown.

Tony smiles. “You’re a good friend, Steve,” he says. “But you can’t save me from this.”

Steve shifts down on the bed until he’s lying on his side facing Tony, looking seriously at him. “Is this depression?” he asks, blunt and caring in that way that only Steve can be.

Tony breathes a deep breath. “I think I’m just giving up,” he admits. “I don’t see what else I can do.”

Steve reaches out, slowly enough that Tony can pull away if he wants to, and then closes his hand around Tony’s wrist. “Please don’t give up,” he says. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you not feel that that’s your only option.”

Tony smiles. “Go to movie night,” he says. “I’m going back to sleep.”

Steve leaves, but only with Tony’s promise that he’ll ask for Steve if he needs him. Tony does sleep for a few hours, between bouts of anxiety that leave him barely able to breathe.

He wakes, briefly, with a hand around his throat. He isn’t awake for long.

 

* * *

 

 

_Monday – Day Ten_

Tony wakes, and his bed no longer smells like Steve. But today, he decides that he’s done going about this alone.

Tony showers and dresses, and then heads down for the tail end of breakfast. He accepts the coffee and smile from Steve, and then says, “I need to talk to you,” and takes him aside into an empty room.

Steve looks at him, open, and Tony wonders why he didn’t know that Steve would spend all day sitting with him if Steve thought he might need company. He wonders how much he hasn’t realised about their relationship.

“I’m in a time-loop,” Tony says.

Steve blinks. “You’re...?”

“Like that movie, Groundhog Day?” When Steve continues to look blank, Tony sighs. “I’d say we should put that on the list, but we’ll just be having this conversation again tomorrow, anyway. Okay, look. I woke up this morning, and it was Monday morning, and you were making eggs for Natasha, Peter, and Luke. Right?”

“Right,” Steve replies.

“Well, that’s been the same for the last ten days. It’s always been Monday. You’ve always been making eggs. Luke makes a comment about waking the demon, because Jones is always angry when he wakes her up. Then you remind me about Barnes coming today – I know you didn’t get to this morning, but you usually do – and then you remind me that you want me to do more sparring. I have a meeting, I spar with Jess, and Sam chooses the same movie for movie night.”

Steve looks at him for a long moment before asking, “How sure are you that you’re not hallucinating or something?”

“At the end of the day, the same thing happens, and I start all over again,” Tony goes on, ignoring Steve’s ludicrous question.

“What happens at the end of the day?”

Tony sucks in a deep breath. “I die,” he says. “Someone breaks into the mansion and kills me. Every time. I’ve tried fighting a number of different ways. I’ve tried fighting him with the team. It never matters. I always die.”

Steve frowns, crosses his arms, and then uncrosses them as if he’s just realised that it makes him look like he doesn’t believe Tony. “Do we have this conversation every day?” he asks.

“No,” Tony replies. “This is the first time I’ve told you.”

“The first time you’ve—Tony, you said it’s been _ten days_. How have you not told me before?” Steve asks, clearly offended.

“I didn’t see how it would make a difference,” Tony replies. “I’ve tried fighting with you. He still kills me, he just may or may not kill you first.”

Steve looks furious. “I don’t know if you realise this, Tony, but I’m not just good as a blunt weapon,” he says. “We can strategize something together.”

Tony nods, then sits on the nearest chair and drinks some coffee. “Okay, here’s a list of what I’ve done: I’ve tried to up my weapons; I’ve tried to fight with the team; I’ve tried to figure it out scientifically with Shuri, Richards, Bruce, and Peter; I’ve tried to contact Loki, but he’s not in range. Ideas?”

Steve stares at him, the remnants of a frown still marring his lovely face. “You told Peter, and not me?”

Tony rubs his forehead. “I told Peter because he’s a science-kid, and I had all the science-kids working on the time-loop project. We can’t see anything wrong with time, though. It’s like this isn’t happening at all.” He holds up a finger and points it at Steve. “And don’t suggest that it’s not happening, because you’re not the one who’s been murdered _nine times_ , okay?”

Steve sits next to Tony, and Tony feels the weight of Steve’s hand on his back.

“Hey,” Steve says, voice soothing in a similar way to yesterday, when Tony had refused to leave his bed. “We’re going to figure this out. It won’t be this way forever.”

Tony swallows, and leans over to rest his head on Steve.

“I don’t think I have forever,” he admits, quietly. “I’m getting weaker every day. I think eventually I just won’t wake up again.”

Steve’s arms curl around Tony and hold him close.

*

They stay like that for a long time. Tony isn’t sure how long, but at some point Barnes walks into the room, raises his eyebrows, and walks out backwards like he’s just caught them doing something obscene.

*

“Okay,” Steve says eventually. “Here’s my idea: You said you’ve done the science angle, and the Loki angle; you didn’t say you’d contacted Strange.”

Tony sits up, extracting himself from Steve. He frowns, confusion bubbling in his mind. “I didn’t even think of Strange,” he says, the thought still slow in my mind. “Why wouldn’t I have thought of Strange?”

*

It turns out, there’s a reason he hasn’t thought of Strange.

“I blocked you from considering me,” Strange says, from where he insists on being in the next room over. Steve is standing in the threshold, glancing back and forth between the rooms. “As it is, you cannot get too close to me without, ah, breaking the multiverse.”

“Breaking the—Strange, what the fuck is going on?” Tony calls through the wall.

“Well, I’ve done my very best to help you,” Strange replies. “I removed the information from your mind yesterday.”

Steve’s arms are crossed, and he does not look very pleased. “Explain,” he insists in his Captain America voice. “From the beginning.”

“Are you the reason I’m stuck in this godawful time-loop?” Tony asks, punching at the wall between them.

Strange sighs. “Yes,” he admits. “Though in my defence, I folded time around you in order that you might survive the day.”

Steve glares. “The beginning, Strange,” he insists.

“There is a being from another realm,” Strange says. “We call it the Wanderer. It has entered our universe – I cannot be sure how it moves, precisely, but here it is. And it’s looking for a particular piece of mythical information, which I and a select few others own. The Wanderer doesn’t want to attack us for the information due to our abilities, and so what _should_ have happened was that it would skip over into another realm entirely. That’s what it’s been doing for as long as we can tell.” He hesitates, and then huffs a laugh. “Except you went and learned the wrong thing at the exact wrong time, and so you’re an unprotected civilian in possession of something it wants.”

Steve gives him a long look. Tony throws his arms up. “I have no idea what it wants!” he insists.

“Ah, yes, that will be because, as I said, I removed the information from your mind,” Strange explains. “Before you object, I did have your permission to remove it. I also removed your memory of my being with you, so that you didn’t go after the information. However, it doesn’t seem to have worked – the Wanderer had a whiff of the information, and kept going after you.”

Tony frowns. “But it never asks me for anything,” he says. “It always just… kills me. Sometimes quite theatrically.”

“Yes,” Strange replies. “That is how it gains the information. Through the killing of the holder.”

Tony punches the wall again. “Well that’s just fucking great!”

“When I saw that it was still coming after you, I folded time around you, to give you multiple opportunities to survive it,” he explained. “Tomorrow, it will pass through to another dimension. All that is required of you is surviving the night.”

“Oh, that’s all that’s required of me, is it,” Tony grumbles.

Steve clears his throat. “Any advice on how to kill it?” he asks.

“None, I’m afraid,” Strange replies, with a strange fluttering that implies he is leafing through multiple books at once. “I would have already told you if I could be of any help. I am sorry that I cannot be of more assistance.”

“Why can’t you help me fight it?” Tony asks. “We can keep a barrier between us. I can wear the armour.”

“I am afraid that none of the mystics can approach you while you are an obscenity of time,” Strange says, sounding honestly apologetic. “Not even with a barrier. That is why I didn’t wish for you to approach me. I am currently in Kathmandu. The Captain is standing on a line pressed between our continents.”

“Um,” says Steve, glancing at his feet.

Strange laughs. “Not to worry, Captain, you shall not be torn in two on my watch. But I am afraid that most of my colleagues have left your continent in order to assure themselves that they shall not be approached by you. I have visited through astral projection to fold time around you, but I have done all I am able to do.”

Tony leans his head against the wall in New York, and speaks to Strange in Kathmandu. “No offence—Actually, fuck that, all of the damn offence: your solution sucks. I have no way to protect myself, so I keep dying, so I keep respawning. What happens if you break the cycle? The Wandering Asshole won’t have the info, because I don’t have it. Isn’t that better than being stuck infinitely?”

“That’s not an option,” Steve insists, glaring at him.

Strange interrupts: “It is not infinite, Stark,” he explains. “Your body will take a toll each time you die. Eventually, you will not be able to ‘respawn’, and the world will move on without you.”

Steve goes pale.

Tony takes a deep breath. “So why did you do this, if I can’t kill it and I’ll only die anyway?”

Strange hesitates for a long moment.

“In the Infinity War,” he starts, clearly choosing his words with great care, “you saved my life. I’m afraid I’m unable to repay the favour, Dr Stark, but I thought I could at least give you an opportunity to survive. To the great disapproval of my friends and colleagues, I might add.”

Tony has more information, but no more _useful_ information. There’s no hope to be found with Strange.

“Any advice on surviving the night?” he asks in a last-ditch effort to make today useful.

Strange huffs an unamused breath. “Perhaps try the god of mischief.”

*

Tony tries to contact Loki again, but obviously there’s no change, because he’s the only thing changing in the whole damn universe.

*

Tony tries yelling at the Wanderer that he doesn’t have the information that he’s after. It doesn’t make a difference.

Steve dies before he does, that night.


	2. Chapter 2

_Monday – Day Eleven_

Tony decides to run through his friends one-by-one to see what ideas they have for escaping the Wanderer.

He tries Natasha first. She suggests taking some poison to fool the Wanderer into thinking he’s already dead. Tony is utterly unsurprised that she already owns the poison.

The Wanderer stabs him multiple times out of what might be frustration or might be understanding. Either way, it doesn’t work.

 

* * *

 

 

_Monday – Day Twelve_

Jess suggests that they lock Tony in a closet, and she and Luke lock it and then defend it from the outside.

The Wanderer turns up in the closet.

 

* * *

 

 

_Monday – Day Thirteen_

Sam suggests that they fly away, as fast as they can, all night. Tony calls Rhodey, because if he’s going to fly indefinitely, he wants Rhodey to be there.

The Wanderer apparently isn’t bound to the ground.

 

* * *

 

 

_Monday – Day Fourteen_

Barnes is the least useful, but he’s also the easiest to convince that the time-loop is happening. While the others need a whole long conversation, usually interspersed with evidence from what they had done or were planning to do, Barnes just raises his eyebrows and says, “Well, that sucks.”

“It does,” Tony replies. “So. Any ideas?”

Barnes narrows his eyes in thought. “It’s kind of like the _Final Destination_ movies. Do they ever figure out how to cheat death in those?”

So that is how Tony ends up wasting his fourteenth Monday watching all of the _Final Destination_ movies with Bucky Barnes. The others wander in at various points, looking concerned about the fact that the two of them are eating popcorn together on the couch. Steve even tries to join them, before begging off out of distaste.

“So I guess they never figure out how to cheat death,” Barnes says once they’re done with the millionth movie.

Tony grins. “We probably could have figured that out by googling it,” he says.

“Yeah, but this way, you got to take your mind off the time-loop for a few hundred hours,” Barnes replies, then puts a hand on his stomach. “I really shouldn’t have eaten that much popcorn.”

“You won’t have eaten it by tomorrow, which will be today again,” Tony replies, and then leans his head back on the couch. “So, no ideas?”

“I’m guessing you’ve tried running, hiding, and fighting,” Barnes says. When Tony nods, he goes on: “I didn’t have any suggestions except the obvious. You’ve had the whole team go against it?”

Tony tries to hide a wince. “Uh, yeah, it doesn’t end well.”

Barnes checks his watch. “What time are you dying?”

“Ten fourteen,” Tony replies. “Why?”

“You have a few hours yet,” Barnes replies. “Since you’ve taken the day off research, why not just do whatever the fuck you want? Nobody’s here to remember it. Go crazy. Burn the mansion down. Dye your hair purple. Tell Steve you’re in love with him.”

A grin had been growing on Tony’s face, and now it lies there, frozen and horrified. “What?”

Barnes stares him out, and then huffs a small laugh. “Oh, good, so you _are_ in love with Stevie,” he says. “I wasn’t so sure but, you know, no consequences, thought I could figure it out.”

“There are consequences for _me_ , I’ll remember this conversation, asshole!”

Barnes shrugs. “Yeah, I don’t really care. Listen, am I right? Because if I am, hey, no consequences, go tell him and find out how he feels.”

“Today has been fun and it’s going to end in murder, no reason to add humiliation to the mix,” Tony insists. “What good would that do?” When all Barnes does is throw a few spare kernels of popcorn at Tony, he adds: “And even if—even if you’re not encouraging this because you’re an asshole, but because you’re an old yenta trying to set us up, what use is it? I’m stuck in this loop until I die for real.”

Barnes’s eyes widen slightly. “You didn’t tell me there was a dying-for-real option.”

Tony rubs at his chest, where he’s been stabbed rather a lot and is starting to be able to feel it. “Yeah, I’m weaker every time I come back. Eventually I just won’t wake up. But the universe will be fine, because I don’t actually have the thing the Wanderer is after. Time will keep going once I’m offed for good.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have suggested wasting a whole day,” Barnes says, sounding wrong-footed.

Tony shrugs. “Nah,” he says. “Today has been the best day I’ve had since it was actually yesterday. Which I’m going to admit is a little weird, since it’s with you, but hey.”

Barnes smiles. Tony is almost a little sorry that Barnes won’t remember their one day of camaraderie in the face of Tony’s death.

*

The others turn up for movie night, but Tony has been sitting on the couch all day, and he doesn’t think his eyes can handle staring at the screen any longer. He heads down to his workshop, instead. If he stops in the doorway of the lounge to give Steve a considering look, well, nobody will remember it anyway.

*

Barnes tries to join him in the workshop before the Wanderer turns up. Tony has FRIDAY lock him out. He’s sick of seeing others die for him.

 

* * *

 

 

_Monday – Day Fifteen_

Tony supposes that he’ll ask Peter for his suggestions, today, but two things get in the way: one bad thing, and one less-bad thing.

The bad thing is that Tony passes out upon trying to stand, and has to spend several minutes getting his bearings before stumbling down the stairs to the kitchen. His time is clearly coming toward an end. Fourteen deaths is a lot to live through, in his defence.

The less-bad thing, which might actually count as a good thing, is that Loki is standing in the kitchen when he gets there.

“Well,” he says, “this is different. It’s been a while since I’ve had ‘different’.”

Loki glowers at him. “I see that the time-malfunction is situated around you, Stark,” he says. “What exactly did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Tony replies, pointing at Loki, pissed off and relieved beyond belief. “Doctor Goddamn Strange put me in a goddamn time-loop. And now you’re here to fix it.” Everyone in the kitchen is staring, but Tony doesn’t have it in him to care. “How did you even get here?”

“I felt that something was wrong with time,” Loki replies. “I had a sense that I may have lived this day before, and I followed the malfunction back to you.”

Tony closes his eyes. Loki’s déjà vu is going to save his life.

When he opens his eyes again, it is to see that Steve has turned off the stove and crossed his arms. “You’re going to explain what is happening,” he says to Tony in his Captain America voice.

*

Tony explains everything.

He explains the time-loop, and their visit to Doctor Strange. He explains all of his attempts to save himself and how spectacularly they have failed. He spends far too long proving to each member of the East Coast Avengers that this is actually happening, and he’s not having a breakdown.

Partway through this conversation, Barnes wanders into the room and raises an eyebrow.

“I’m stuck in a time-loop,” Tony explains.

Barnes frowns. “That sucks,” he says, and sits on the arm of the chair next to Steve.

Steve looks up at Barnes. “You’re accepting it? Just like that?”

Barnes shrugs.

“So that was up to day ten,” Tony finishes. “Since then I’ve been taking suggestions every day to try to survive. Obviously, none of them have worked, because I have been killed a whole bunch of ways. If anyone is wondering, by the way, my current preferred way of being murdered is having my neck snapped. It’s fast,” he explains.

“Thanks for sharing with the class,” says Jess.

Tony turns to Loki. “So now that we’re all up to speed…”

“You wish to know if I have a method for breaking out of the time-loop without it resulting in your imminent demise,” Loki finishes for him. “Tell me, why should I not simply unfold time and allow your life to approach its end?”

Well, he has a good point. Tony tries to find a reason that Loki should save him, but ‘your brother is my friend’ doesn’t seem like it will cut it.

“Yeah,” Tony admits. “I guess you got me there. But if you’re not going to save me, I have zero options, so I would rather not keep dying until I can’t respawn anymore.”

“Tony,” Steve says, voice hard around the edges. “We’re not getting out of the time-loop before we find a way to save you.” He stands and turns to stare Loki out.

It takes several moments, but eventually, Loki rolls his eyes. “Fine,” he says. “I will end the beast. But you will remember that you owe me a favour.”

*

They wait.

*

After some time, Tony starts to describe his days in more detail. If today is really his last Monday, he’s glad to be sharing it, even if most of his friends are unsympathetic assholes. Jess honest-to-god _laughs_ when he tells her that the Wanderer turned up in the closet she locked Tony in. Steve looks disapproving from his place next to Tony on the couch, though, so that’s good enough.

Today might really be his last Monday.

*

Loki returns in the evening with several ideas for how to kill the Wanderer, and they come up with a game-plan. For the first time since Sunday, Tony is starting to feel hopeful.

*

The others insist on making concentric circles around him, which would offend Tony more if he hadn’t died fourteen times in the last fourteen days. Several Lokis stand in the corners, in case the Wanderer decides to attack the source of the magic.

Tony isn’t sure if it’s lucky or unlucky, but the Wanderer doesn’t seem to care about Loki and his whispered spells. Instead, he attempts to work his way through the Avengers to Tony, as if they are just minor inconveniences.

The Wanderer throws Luke into a wall, which leaves a dent. He gets caught up for a while when Natasha winds her way around him and flips him over, but he’s back on his feet and Natasha is across the room in no time.

Peter shoots webbing at the Wanderer and keeps him enclosed in it for several long seconds, before the Wanderer uses the webbing to fling Peter across the room.

Tony keeps his arms up and his repulsors ready, just in case, but if Loki can find a spell anytime soon, Tony might not actually die.

*

He doesn’t die.

Loki finds a spell.

But Peter is lying on the floor with his neck snapped, and Tony remembers with a sickening lurch that he’d recommended that as a way to be murdered.

“It was the _Asholu_ spell that did it,” Loki informs Tony, standing by his side. Barely any of the Avengers have moved, but Jess is on her knees next to Peter, both hands over her mouth. The room feels like it’s on the edge of a communal panic attack.

“I’ll remember that,” Tony says, shrugging off the armour. “Make it quick, okay?”

Loki kills him with a beam of light.

 

* * *

 

 

_Monday – Day Sixteen_

Tony wakes up, cancels on Pepper, and almost collapses in the shower. He changes into a suit before heading down to breakfast.

Today, they’re going to get it right.

*

The explanation goes better than yesterday, because Tony knows all of their pitfalls. Loki doesn’t remember yesterday, just the déjà vu, so Tony tells him that the _Asholu_ spell will cause the Wanderer to fall into a pile of dust.

“I am getting out of this time-loop,” he insists, slipping on sunglasses even though they’re inside. “This is the last Monday, people. Take Sixteen.”

*

They don’t have much preparing to do, now that Tony knows which spell will kill the Wanderer. So they watch movies, instead.

Barnes suggests _Final Destination_ , and Tony laughs so much that it hurts. Barnes looks surprised, but when Tony explains that his day with Bucky had been a _Final Destination_ marathon, he cracks an amused smile.

(Actually, everything sort of hurts. Tony reminds himself that he should probably see a doctor tomorrow.)

He sits on the couch next to Steve, even though there isn’t really enough room with Barnes on the other side. It isn’t until he’s already squashed into Steve’s side that he remembers that everyone will actually remember it this time, but Steve looks so pleased that Tony doesn’t have it in him to care.

Tony ends up falling asleep, because he’s absolutely fucking exhausted. He falls asleep on Steve, because he’s conditioned his body into thinking that this is acceptable.

When he wakes up, he’s leaning on Steve, and Steve’s warm arm is curled around Tony’s shoulders. Tony opens his eyes, feeling somewhat rested for the first time in days, and looks up at Steve.

Steve’s ear has gone red, as if he’s trying desperately to fight a blush. Tony smiles, and thinks, _Tomorrow_.

*

They win the fight. Armed with the right spell, it isn’t even hard. Tony pats Peter on the back hard enough to unbalance him.

“Ow,” Peter complains, but he’s also smiling in that specific way he does at Tony, the ‘I think it’s a secret that I want you to be my dad’ kind of way. For once, it doesn’t bother Tony.

“Well, that was anticlimactic,” Tony says, stepping out of the armour.

Loki’s smile in thin but honest. “Do not forget that you owe me a favour, Stark,” he says before he disappears.

“I’m all keyed up with nothing to punch,” Barnes complains. He’s the only one who even got a hit in before Loki had dusted the bane of Tony’s existence.

Natasha shrugs. “I’ll fight you,” she suggests, and the two of them head toward the gym.

Steve has a knowing smile on his face as Barnes and Natasha leave, and Tony thinks, _Oh, that’s why Barnes is visiting._ Maybe they can get Barnes transferred to the East Coast, if he and Natasha are planning to make a go of it. Tony’s in a good enough mood that the idea doesn’t unsettle him at all.

The others start to head in different directions, and Tony turns to Steve. “Can I go to bed with you?” Steve appears to choke on nothing, which makes Tony’s grin widen. “I didn’t mean that as a come-on. It’s just, you know, I’m sick of waking up every Monday in my own bed. I thought it would be a nice change of pace: Tuesday morning, Steve’s bed.”

Steve’s expression says that he isn’t buying it for a second. “Uh huh,” he says. “Try again.”

“And maybe tomorrow I could take you out to dinner,” Tony suggests.

Steve is definitely blushing this time.

“Do you ask me that every day?” he asks, half-unimpressed and half-curious. “Do I react like this every day?”

Tony shrugs. “Uh, no. I haven’t asked before. I figured, you know, consequences.” At Steve’s confused puppy head-tilt, Tony explains: “I didn’t want to start something here without consequences. The consequences are kind of the point.”

Steve stares at him for a long moment, and then smiles slowly, like the sun breaking out over the horizon.

“We should probably go out _before_ I take you to bed,” he suggests. Tony tampers down on his urge to fist-pump from pure masculine joy. Steve steps in closer. “But as long as there’s no funny business…”

Steve’s hand curls around the back of Tony’s neck. Tony can’t stop smiling, which might make the oncoming kiss a little awkward. “Why Captain, I have no idea what you mean,” he says, and Steve huffs a gentle laugh, and then leans in and kisses him.

*

That is how Tony ends up spending the night in Steve’s bed – with no funny business. Unless making out and a little above-the-waist touching counts as funny business, that is. But Tony is sure that it doesn’t count, because hello, Steve’s arms are practically asking to be groped. Hoo boy.

By the time Tony is falling asleep, he can’t keep a smile off his face. These two weeks of torture might even have been worth it, just for this. There’ll be anxiety later, that’s for sure; there’ll be what-ifs and insecurity and probably some yelling. But today Tony just soaks in the feeling of Steve’s arms around him and lets himself be happy.

He falls asleep, alive.

 

* * *

 

 

_Monday – Day Seventeen_

Tony wakes up in his own bed to the sound of the Jaws theme tune on his cell phone.

“No,” he says, sitting up. “No, it can’t—FRIDAY, is it Monday?”

“ _It is indeed, Boss_ ,” Friday replies.

*

He has FRIDAY cancel on Pepper, and then he sits in bed for a few minutes before heading downstairs in his t-shirt and boxers to meet Loki.

Loki glowers at him. “I see that the time-malfunction is situated around you, Stark,” he says. “What exactly did you do?”

Tony keeps staring, and then a dry sound works its way out of his throat, somewhere between a laugh and a sob. He means to speak, to ask what the hell is happening, but all he can do is stare in horror at the same old Monday breakfast scene.

Steve abandons the eggs to move quickly to Tony’s side, his face drawn in concern. He places a warm hand on Tony’s back. It might have been soothing if everything wasn’t hopeless.

“What’s happening?” Steve’s voice is demanding as he looks between Tony and Loki.

“I’m stuck in a time-loop,” Tony says, exhausted. His knees start to buckle, and he grabs the kitchen counter for support, moving away from Steve. “I’ve been in the loop, in the same Monday for—a while now. I thought we had it. I didn’t die. I didn’t die! Why is this still fucking _happening?!_ What did we miss?”

Steve puts a hand on Tony’s chest, and ducks his head until Tony is forced to meet his eyes. “I don’t understand,” he says, and he sounds honestly worried. “I need you to start from the beginning.”

Tony sighs. He’s sick of explaining this. “There’s a… _thing_ after me. Strange put me in a time-loop. At the end of every day, it kills me, and I wake up again, and it’s Monday again, and again. Except then Loki killed the monster, and so it should have broken the time-loop, because the loop has been dependant on my—”

He stops, horrified.

He feels light-headed. He’s exhausted. His body barely wants to hold him up.

_Shit._

“I died in my sleep,” Tony says, the words coming out hollow.

He thinks it’s Steve who asks him what is happening, but he honestly can’t tell over the ringing in his ears. He looks to Loki, because Loki is the most likely person to be following.

“I died in my _sleep_ ,” he repeats, to Loki this time. “We did everything right, and I still died. Because we’ve crossed the threshold. I can’t survive the day anymore. It’s too late.”

Loki’s mouth has thinned out. “Then it’s over. I may as well unfold time now, if you are beyond saving.”

“ _Will somebody tell me what’s going on!_ ” Steve insists, angrier than Tony has seen him in a long time.

*

It’s harder to explain everything when he’s panicking, but the team follow him to his workshop while he takes scans of his body.

He’s a mess inside. When he sends the scans to Bruce, Bruce seems bewildered that he’s even standing.

“If I get to a hospital, can they keep me alive?” Tony asks, looking up at Bruce’s face on the screen.

Bruce doesn’t look happy. “Maybe,” he says. “It’s a better option than doing nothing, at least.”

Tony nods, still looking down at his fucked-up scans, and then Barnes – who must have arrived when Tony was too busy rambling his explanation and panicking to pay attention – says: “Try Shuri.”

“Good idea,” Tony says, and tries not to be offended when Barnes looks surprised at the praise. “FRIDAY, call Shuri. Send her the scans.”

Moments later, Shuri’s face appears on a screen next to Bruce’s.

“Tony, what on earth is this?” she asks. “Tell me this isn’t really your body. What did you even do?”

“I died a lot,” Tony replies. “Time-loop. Monday keeps replaying, but apparently my body is taking damage from all the, you know, the murdering. Could you fix this? If I came to Wakanda right now?”

Shuri doesn’t look happy. She spends a few moments looking at the scans, which is honestly longer than Tony has ever seen her consider anything.

“You would have more chance coming to me than staying in America,” Shuri eventually says, which Tony supposes is a very nice way of telling him that he’s almost definitely not fixable. “I could put you into cryo until we find a solution. But I do not know how long that solution might take.”

Tony sits down heavily on a stool in the workshop and puts his head in his hands.

“I have maybe four Mondays left before I just don’t wake up,” he says. “Call it three to be safe. We can do something experimental, it can fail and kill me twice without—”

He stops, glances at Bruce and Shuri on the screens, and then turns to look at the East Coast Avengers, Barnes, and Loki.

“Uh oh,” Jess says. “That’s your bad-idea face.” She turns to Peter and says, “I almost married that bad-idea face.” Peter looks suitably terrified.

“What?” Tony asks, offended. “I don’t have a bad-idea face. Do I have a bad idea face?”

“Spit it out, Stark,” Natasha interjects. “What’s your terrible idea?”

Tony hesitates, and then looks to Steve, who is the only person whose opinion really matters to him right now. Steve’s eyes narrow.

“You’re not going to like this,” Tony says, bluntly.

Steve raises his hands. “I already don’t like this,” he admits. “Or understand it.”

“I’m going to use Extremis,” Tony says.

Shuri clears her throat. “While I enjoy the creativity,” she says, “I have seen your notes on that surgery. I do not think you can recreate that with the number of injuries in your body right now. Your body is… it is _breaking down_ , Tony.”

“Oh,” Steve says, realisation clear in his voice. “You’re not going to use it in a controlled way like you did with the heart surgery. You’re going to take it in.”

“It’ll kill you,” Bruce adds. “But… you have three tries. So we’ll adjust it each time, hope that you don’t need more than three. It’s a risk.”

Tony shrugs. “It’s better than nothing. I don’t have many options, here.”

He looks to Steve, who looks unhappy, but Steve doesn’t do anything to dissuade him. He must know that this is Tony’s best shot.

“How is your memory, Tony?” Shuri asks. “You’re going to have to remember a lot of data for this to work. You’ll need to know how to adjust it each time.”

Tony grins. “Honeybuns, I have a photographic memory,” he says, and then gets to work.

“I will come to assist you,” Shuri says, “on the condition that you never call me ‘honeybuns’ again.”

“You’ve got a deal, Princess.”

*

Many hours later, Bruce and Shuri are both there in person. Tony’s body is weak, but he feels like he has more mental energy than he’s had in weeks.

The other Avengers have been wandering in and out all day, unable to completely leave when Tony is about to die, but not of enough use to loiter in the workshop. Only Steve has stayed steady all day, placing a hand on Tony’s back or shoulder when he needs the support.

They could just inject the virus and see what happens, but if Tony has extra time, he’s going to do his best to rewrite Extremis into something he can actually live with. And so he does what he can to edit it. If this works, he could have direct cybernetic interface and wireless communication, which he’s a lot more interested in than being able to breathe fire.

“I’m ready,” Tony says, eyeing the data. Together, they’ve manipulated Extremis into something almost unrecognisable from Extremis 1.0, but hopefully that’s just going to increase his chances of not exploding. “Okay. Here’s to not dying. Here’s to Tuesday. Here’s to taking Steve out on an actual date.”

“Uh, what?” Steve asks.

Tony shrugs him off. “Never mind. Tomorrow.”

Tony injects himself with Extremis 2.0.

*

He burns up.

 

* * *

 

 

_Monday – Day Eighteen_

Tony wakes up gasping, and then immediately starts rattling off data to FRIDAY. FRIDAY is amazing (of course she’s amazing, Tony built her and loves every beautiful line of code), and she takes it all in without question.

By the time Tony’s cell phone begins playing the Jaws theme tune, Tony is already stumbling to the shower, still reeling off information to FRIDAY.

“Tell Pepper I’m not coming in today,” he interrupts himself. “And tell Shuri to get on a jet here ASAP, life or death, and also send her all the data I’m giving you. And also Bruce. And tell the Breakfast Club to meet me in the lounge in ten minutes.”

Fifteen minutes later, Tony is showered (and only fell in the shower once, thank you), dressed in a suit, and ready to get to work.

“Shuri,” he says into his cell as he makes his way toward where the East Coast Avengers and Pals are waiting in the lounge. “Are you on a jet?”

“Yes,” Shuri says, “but only because you’ve been sending me interesting data. What is happening over there, Tony? Is this _your_ body? Is this a modified version of the Extremis virus?”

“Here,” Tony replies, “I’m going to patch you through to the speakers so you can hear us all – say hello to my girl FRIDAY.”

And so Tony explains, again, what is happening. The time-loop, the Wanderer, Strange, the fact that he’s now beyond repair and can’t survive the day, yada yada yada.

“You can’t just say ‘yada yada yada’ after telling us that you’re hours from keeling over,” Luke interrupts. “That’s not a ‘yada’ moment.”

“It’s fine,” Tony says. “I still have two tries to survive. Yesterday, I injected myself with Extremis 2: Electric Boogaloo. We all decided it was my best shot, since I can try three times and make adjustments for my reactions.”

“ _That explains all of this terrifying data_ ,” Shuri says through FRIDAY’s speakers, clearly pleased. “ _But did you use this as an excuse to find a way to store the whole Iron Man armour in your_ body _?_ ”

Tony grins, and then almost falls over.

“Whoa,” he breathes, and it takes him a few moments to realise that the only reason he’s still upright is Steve, who is solid and warm beside him. “Thanks, big guy. And you!” he says, pointing at Loki. “Your job comes at ten-fourteen tonight, when the Wanderer tries to kill me. Use the _Asholu_ spell. He’ll turn to dust.” He pats Steve’s chest, distracted. “Ride on, pony.”

*

It’s a better day than Monday Eighteen. They have more time to work, and more data to work with. Shuri turns up many hours earlier than the last Monday, because she’d left almost as soon as Tony had awoken. Bruce has a breakthrough with Tony’s DNA, because he has more information about Tony’s reaction to Extremis 2.0.

*

In the end, Tony still burns up.

 

* * *

 

 

_Monday – Day Nineteen_

Tony wakes up gasping, and then says, “Last chance.” He then immediately starts rattling off data to FRIDAY – more than yesterday, because he now has two samples. He cancels on Pepper, invites Shuri, showers, and stumbles downstairs in a suit.

The meeting goes about the same as the previous Monday, except that Tony is even more shaky and unbalanced. He’s pretty sure that only part of the reason is the breakdown of his body – the other part might just be nerves. He’s not sure he gets another shot at this.

*

Shuri and Bruce come. They work on the data. Bruce has another, different breakthrough, based on the extra information about Tony’s reaction. Bruce’s new breakthrough allows Tony and Shuri to build a device that might serve to keep him stable for longer, and allow Extremis 2.0 to rewrite him with greater ease.

*

“Okay,” Tony says, and then his hand flails out without his permission and grabs Steve’s. Steve squeezes back. “Here goes.”

For several long minutes, everything is okay. Their device is working. It hurts more than it probably should, but it’s a complete rewiring of DNA, so Tony doesn’t allow himself to be too discouraged.

For a brief moment, Tony can feel all of FRIDAY’s data around him. He can reach out and touch her. In his head, he hears her ask, _Boss?_

Then the burning starts.

It’s slower, this time.

“Okay,” Bruce says, looking in Tony’s eyes. “Okay, I think we might be able to control this.”

*

Tony burns up.

 

* * *

 

_Monday – Day Twenty_

Tony wakes up gasping.

“Oh, thank fuck,” he says to his ceiling, and then starts rattling off data again.

*

They have to inject Extremis 2.0 earlier than the previous days, because they’re not sure Tony’s going to last until the evening. But there are differences, today – more data, different breakthroughs. Tony grits his teeth, squeezes Steve’s hand once, and then gets to it.

It’s slower, again. The device works better.

Tony can see data. He can hear it. He can see through all the cameras of his household.

There are numbers, everywhere. He thinks that he might not be breathing.

 

* * *

 

 

 

Tony wakes gasping.

“Aah!” Jess jumps, and then hits him in the shoulder. “Why did you have to wake up when _I_ was on Stark duty? Can’t you wake up like a goddamn normal person?”

Tony opens his eyes. He’s in his bedroom, and Jess is perched next to him on the bed, reading a book.

“Is it Tuesday?” Tony asks, hopeful.

Jess frowns. “Uh, no.”

“Fuck,” Tony asks, closing his eyes. It didn’t work. He doesn’t know how if he has enough time to alter the virus again—

Except, he feels fine. Better than fine.

And he can see his email inbox, which he’s pretty sure he can’t usually see with his eyes closed.

“No, it’s fine,” Jess says, clearly realising where his mind has wandered. “It’s Thursday. You’ve been unconscious. Banner says that your brain needed to reconfigure or something, and that you’d be awake when you were… rebooted.”

“It’s Thursday,” Tony says, and laughs. “It’s _Thursday_.”

*

When he gets downstairs, Barnes is cooking bacon, badly. He looks sadly down into his pan, and then up at Tony. “I’d say we’re greeting you with a victory lunch, but they put me in charge of the stove.”

“If you’re going to join the East Coast Avengers, you’re going to have to learn how to cook to be on the food rotation,” Tony says. “Or get very used to ordering in.”

Barnes stares blankly.

“Tony!” Steve greets, entering the room, and then Tony doesn’t have time to explain what changed between him and Barnes during his repeated Mondays because Steve has wrapped him up in his arms. “It’s so good to see you awake. How do you feel?”

Tony checks. “Better than I have in a decade, actually,” he answers, still wrapped in Steve’s embrace. He pats Steve on the back. “Sorry that I missed Tuesday, though. I was looking forward to Tuesday.”

Steve finally pulls back, grinning. “What was going to be so special about Tuesday? Thursday is pretty great.”

“Well, I was going to convince you to let me take you out on a date on Tuesday,” Tony replies.

Steve hesitates, and the smile fades from his face. The bacon pops in the pan, and Barnes swears quietly.

“I…” he starts, and then trails off. “This—Is this a joke?”

“Nope,” Tony replies. “Honest-to-Thor. Go out on a date with me?”

It occurs to Tony that there’s no guarantee that Steve says yes in this timeline. Things are different. Tony has injected himself with Extremis. He briefly considers distracting himself from this long, awkward moment by watching a cat video in his head, but he resists.

“Did you ask me that before?” Steve asks, looking unsure of himself. “In your many Mondays?”

Tony winces. “I did,” he admits. “But in my defence, I thought I was surviving that Monday.”

“In your defence?” Steve asks.

“Yeah, I had a whole thing. I didn’t want to start anything without consequences, because, you know, the consequences matter here. They’re kind of the point of this, or something. The point is that it matters. To me. Look, I’m probably just going to keep talking until you interrupt me, so I’d really appreciate an out or—”

“Yes,” Steve interrupts, and Tony realises that he’s smiling, wide and honest.

 

* * *

 

The next day is a Friday.   
  


* * *

 

  
The next day is a Saturday.  
  


* * *

 

  
Tony never grows tired of tomorrows.

 

_The End_


End file.
